Parliament of Rutania
The Parliament of Rutania is a unicameral legislature of the federal government of Rutania that meets in the National Parliament Building in Vanderburg. Representatives are chosen through direct election. Each of the 599 members of the Parliament represents a district and serves a four-year term. Seats are apportioned among the 5 provinces by population. =History= =Powers= Constitutional Checks & Balances =Legislative Term= The parliament meets year round and at times, members are able to take breaks when legislation is not being debated/voted on. A term of parliament is divided into two sessions; one lasts for 2 years. A session is essentially when the Parliament meets to debate and vote on laws. A new session begins on January 1 and ends two years later on January 1. If January 1 falls on a weekend, then the session will begin at the start of the new week. The current parliament is the 82nd Parliament of Rutania. =Composition= The parliament is a unicameral legislature with a total of 599 members that represent all 5 provinces of Rutania. Elections for the Parliament are every 4 years and members are not subject to term limits. In order to fill all 599 seats, each of the 5 provinces are divided into congressional districts based upon population; the larger the province, the more representation it receives in the parliament. Coalition Governments Because no party has won an out right majority in Rutania in over 200 years, coalition governments allow parties of similar interest to come together to pass their agenda and establish a working government as set forth in the Constitution. At times, a "Unity Government" may come to fruition. In this case, it means when most or all parties in the nation agree to work together despite ideological differences. This usually happens when the stability of the nation comes into question or during times of war. Recorded history has provided only 10 instances in which such a thing has taken place. The current government consists of the Rutanian Federal Party, Rutanian Liberty Party, Urban Party of Rutania and Libertarian Freedom Party. Officially, it's known as the Centre-Alliance. =Officers= The party with a majority of seats in the Assembly is known as the majority party. The next-largest party is the minority party. The Speaker, committee chairs, and some other officials are required to be from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. Speaker of the Parliament The Speaker is the presiding officer of the Parliament. The duties and powers of the Speaker are defined by the rules and customs of the Parliament. Speakers have a role both as a leader of the Parliament and the leader of their party. As the presiding officer of the Parliament, the speaker generally presides over debate though not every debate. In some cases, he or she delegates the responsibility of presiding to other members. The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the chamber. The powers of the presiding officer are extensive; one important power is that of controlling the order in which members may speak. No member may make a speech or a motion unless he or she has first been recognized by the presiding officer. Speakers serve as the chair of their party's delegation committee, which is responsible for assigning party members to Assembly committees including the chairs of the committee. The Speaker is not allowed to be a member on any committee as it may create a political conflict of interest. Party Leaders Party Leaders are elected by their respective parties in closed-door meetings by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. Party leaders are responsible for organizing and setting their party's agenda in the Parliament. They also serve as the chief speaker, though not always, for their party in the Parliament. =Membership= Qualifications A representative must be at least 21 years old and must be a citizen of Rutania for at least 5 years as well as a legal citizen. Members must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the province they represent and must've lived in the district they wish to represent for at least 3 years. Terms and Election Terms As per the Constitution, representatives are directly elected by the people and serve a term lasting no longer than four years and are not subject to any term limits. The Parliament has the power to formally censure or reprimand its members; censure or reprimand requires only a simple majority, but does not remove a member from office. The Parliament may impeach a member and this will require a 2/3 vote. Elections for representatives are held every four years on December 10 and they are subsequently inaugurated on December 30. A new parliament will begin on January 1. During elections, the Parliament is on holiday and new legislation may not be voted on. It should be noted that the months of these events will change based on the election schedule, but the dates will not. Election Parties are required to nominate 2 candidates with a grand total of 8 people being on the ballot. It should be noted that the number of people required to be nominated by each party changes based on the number of parties eligible to hold seats. If there are exactly 5 or more parties eligible to hold seats, then each party will be required to only nominate 1 candidate. The 3 candidates who receive the most votes are elected to the Parliament. Candidates can either be nominated in partisan primary elections, typically held in spring to late summer the year of the election or they can be selected internally; 3 of the 4 parties choose to select candidates internally. Congressional Districts Representatives are elected from 40 multi-member districts by plurality at-large voting (also known as block voting). Since the most amount of seats a province can have is 120, each province is divided into 40 congressional districts which have 3 members each. Some districts are divided into sub-districts to ensure local representation for areas with too little population to warrant an entire district. Flex-Districts Because Rutania has 599 seats and those seats are apportioned to each province by population, four provinces will have 120 seats while one province will have 119 seats. In order to ensure that a province still has 40 district while having 119 seats, flex-districts were established. Flex-districts are districts that are designated to be "flexed" whenever a province is apportioned 119 seats. What this means is that the designated district will have 2 members elected instead of the usual 3 members. Flex-districts, however, are not chosen by the Parliament and are instead chosen by the provincial legislature and can only be changed by them with a 2/3 vote. Ardinia, Delvar and Khodor require that the flex-district is the district with the largest population while Bozarland and Kragusrov require that the district is the one with the smallest population. Redistricting Like other countries, congressional districts are allowed to be redrawn; however, the process is not only time consuming, it's nearly impossible given the amount of red tape associated in doing so. Redistricting can only occur after a 2/3 vote is passed within the Parliament and approval is subsequently given by the Federal Elections Board (FEB), Minister of Justice and Minister of Internal Affairs. After that, the province(s) in question are tasked with redrawing the district. A redrawn district must be approved by a province's legislature and the Governor. It will then be reviewed and either approved or denied by the FEB and Ministers of Justice and Internal Affairs. A "denial" means the province must redraw the district again; an "approval" means the new, redrawn district shall take effect during the next Parliament. Privileges Members of enjoy the privilege of being free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace. This immunity applies to members during sessions and when traveling to and from sessions. However, there are rules restricting offensive speeches, and those caught suffer punishment such as a loss of pay or censure. As of 3418, rank and file members of the parliament receive a yearly salary of 5,000 RUT. Party leaders are paid 5,300 RUT per year. The Speaker of the Parliament earns 5,500 RUT per year. =Current Membership= |- !colspan=6 align=center bgcolor="E9E9E9" |3418 Elections |- ! colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="center" | Parties ! colspan="3" align="center" | Results |- bgcolor="#E9E9E9" align=center ! width="75" |Votes ! width="30" |Seats |- | bgcolor="#008080" | | align="center" |Rutanian Federal Party | align="center" | RFP | 14,823,454 || 137 |- | bgcolor="#0000CD" | | align="center" |Rutanian Liberty Party | align="center" | RLP | 11,917,245 || 111 |- | bgcolor="#FF0000" | | align="center" |Sosialist Party of Rutanian | align="center" | SPR | 11,264,854 || 106 |- | bgcolor="#00A6EF" | | align="center" |Urban Party of Rutania | align="center" | UPR | 9,824,589 || 89 |- | bgcolor="#00008B" | | align="center" |Conservative Party of Rutania | align="center" | CPR | 8,729,318 || 81 |- | bgcolor="#FFFF00" | | align="center" |Libertarian Freedom Party | align="center" | LFP | 7,491,152 || 70 |- | bgcolor="#800000" | | align="center" |Rutanian Republican Party - United Left | align="center" | RRP-UL | 594,273 || 5 |- | bgcolor="#FFD700" | | align="center" |Tradition,Family,Property Movement | align="center" | TFPM | 21,726 || 0 |- | colspan="5" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" | |- ! align="center" colspan="3"| Total ! 64,666,611 !! 599 |} =Links= Government of Rutania Rutania